Jerry Brown keeps telling us California’s economy is on the mend, but you wouldn’t know that if you used the jobless rate as a gauge, particularly in the Inland Empire. Here, the latest unemployment figures are not exactly encouraging. For instance, the rate for the Inland Empire went from 8.4 percent in June to 9.2 percent in July. The unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in Riverside County, and closer to home, 9 percent in San Bernardino County. And that was countywide. In the Victor Valley, estimates run as high as 15 percent.

The good news is that the job losses pushing our county’s rate back up came in the government sector ... which means it’s costing taxpayers less to fund their government, and thus are able to keep their disposable income from shrinking still further.

A while back we wrote abut Thumbtack. com, which goes to the source of all job creation — small business owners — to find out what they're thinking about the business environment. Unhappily, in the Inland Empire Thumbtack says that environment was given a D, thus rating as one of the least-friendly regions in the state. Across the country, the Inland Empire ranked 71st regarding business friendliness.

Worse news is that there’s no positive change ahead. Remember, cap-and-trade is about to kick in Jan. 1, which it’s estimated will jack up gasoline prices by as much as 70 cents per gallon — and that will be added to what are already among the very highest per gallon prices in the entire country. If cap-and-trade isn’t postponed (something that’s been discussed by Gov. Brown and the Legislature at large as election day approaches) we’ll all be paying $4.50 to $5 per gallon. And imagine what that will do to job creation.

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After State Assembly members dithered over banning single-use plastic bags all summer, Thursday they approved a bill doing just that, and Friday the State Senate, keeping its usual weather eye on the unions, went along, OKing SB 270 on a 22-15 vote. The United Food and Commercial Workers, a union that represents grocery workers, backed the ban because it wants the money currently spent on plastic bags to be used for worker training and foodsafety initiatives. Uh huh.

As it does on so many liberal issues, California government became the first in the nation to impose a statewide ban on the bags.

The approval came, according to the Associated Press, after “protections” for plastic bag manufacturers were added to the bill. Those bribes included $2 million in loans to help the manufacturers “shift to producing reusable bags and lets grocers charge 10 cents each for paper and reusable bags.”

So, shoppers, prepare to have your pocketbook hit once again by the folks you send to Sacramento. Are we ever going to start rejecting this abuse?